Your portal to the world of GSM Security
GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephone system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. GSM operates in the 900MHz, 1800MHz, or 1900Mhz frequency bands.
GSM is the de facto wireless telephone standard in Europe. GSM has over one billion users worldwide and is available in 190 countries. Since many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to other countries.
GSM together with other technologies is part of an evolution of wireless mobile telecommunication that includes High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HCSD), General Packet Radio System (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS).
GSM security issues such as theft of service, privacy, and legal interception continue to raise significant interest in the GSM community. The purpose of this portal is to raise awareness of these issues with GSM security.
For an introduction to GSM technology, visit the GSM Tutorial from the International Engineering Consortium, Introduction to GSM from Performance Technologies, the Overview of the Global System for Mobile Communications by John Scourias or What is GSM.
For a gentle introduction to the issues involved in GSM security, read the GSM Security FAQ. For more in-depth information, read the GSM Security Papers.
